Since 2012, the Malvern Leopards and Glen Rose Beavers have opened the season battling each other on the gridiron. The 2019 season will be no different as the Leopards get set to host the Beavers at Claude Mann Stadium-David Alpe Field on Friday, September 6, 2019 at 7 p.m.

The rivalry, which was formerly called the Brick Bowl, has seen the series sway from the Leopards to the Beavers in previous years. The Leopards started the series 4-0 before letting the Beavers win the past three seasons to trail 4-3. The Beavers will look to tie the series matchup with a win on Friday night.

Last year, the Beavers pulled out a second half comeback win to defeat the Leopards 12-9 at Beaver Stadium. This year the game will be held at Claude Mann Stadium-David Alpe Field.

A place that Glen Rose Head Coach Mark Kehner says is a tough place to win.

Both teams are facing a lot of new this year. For the Leopards, they have new coach at the helm and new assistant coaches. But they also have a new energy. “They’ve got a new coach and a lot of enthusiasm with the new coach,” Keh-ner said. “They’re going to be excited and start off the season right for him and the staff.”

For Glen Rose, they have many players who haven’t seen a lot of play time that will need to step up this year. Coach Kehner says that the Beavers attitude is good though and that they are mentally tough. Accord-ing to Malvern Head Coach J.D. Plumlee, “Coach Keh-ner and his staff do an unbe-lievable job coaching those young men.” “They’ve got really tough, hard nosed kids, and we’re trying to match that intensity,” Coach

Plumlee said. After the kickoff game

last season, the Beavers went on to lose only two games. One was to non-conference opponent Bauxite and the other was to Camden Har-mony Grove in the second round of the Class 3A State Playoffs. The Leopards saw a first as they went winless in 2018. Both teams will look to turn things around and it all begins with the first matchup.

Changes from Last Sea-son

Quarterbacks-Both teams have new

starting quarterbacks for this game. Malvern quarterback Braxton Allen finished the 2018 season for the Leop-ards, but it was Parker Fre-er who got the start against the Beavers in 2018. Freer completed eight passes on 21 attempts for 58 yards and had one rushing touchdown. This year the Leopards will have Allen and freshman quarterback Cedric Sim-

mons to provide a mix up of offensive schemes.

In 2018, leading the Bea-vers offense was J.T. Tow-ers. Towers completed five passes on 22 attempts for 80 yards and had one rushing touchdown. This year Wes-ley Launius will be leading the Beavers offense. Lau-nius is new to the quarter-back position but had a good summer according to Coach Kehner.

Running Backs-Both the Leopards and

Beavers lost their big run-ning backs from last season. Malvern’s London Florence graduated in the spring and had five carries for eight yards in the Beavers-Leop-ards game last year. Glen Rose also graduated running back Jay’Shawn Cox who had 21 carries for 64 yards and one touchdown in the game last season.

Taking over in the Leop-ards back field is sopho-mores Marquez Johnson and Jose Valdivia and juniors Jacobe Hart and Kieth Ca-radine. For the Beavers, juniors Dalton Bell and Ahmad Holmes and sopho-mores Bredon Byrd and Co-hen Carter will be appearing in the backfield.

Wide Receivers- The Beavers lost three of

their main receiving corps last season. Caleb Barr, Jace Haynes, Corbin Hughes all graduated in the spring. The three combined for four re-ceptions for 68 yards in the game last year. Their only other receiver to make a re-ception was Matthew Clark who returns for the Beavers. Clark had one reception for 12 yards in the game last season.

Returning for the Leop-ards, is Dallas Lewis and Daylan Ross. Lewis had one reception for three yards last in the game last year while

Ross had 47 yards on three receptions.

Offensive Line/Defense-Both teams return big

guys to their offensive and defensive lines. For Mal-vern, Jason Lambel will be a big man up front for the offense while Daniel Luton returns for the defense. For Glen Rose, Gavin Chaney will start on both sides of the ball as well as Trey McKim.

Special Teams-The Beavers will be re-

turning kicker/punter Colby Steed. Steed, according to Coach Kehner is a Division I punter. Steed made eight of 11 field goal attempts for the entirety of last season, averaged 48 yards per kick-

off and 34 yards per punt. Malvern graduated kicker/punter Michael Cervantes in the spring. Replacing him could be Kevin Cardona, Jesus Rodea, and Adair Ru-elas.

Excitement is overflow-ing for both sides as the game inches closer. “I think it’s going to be a good foot-ball game and an exciting one,” Coach Plumlee said. “It’s a huge game right out of the gate.” Coach Kehner had the same feeling stat-ing, “It’s Malvern and Glen Rose, it’s been a great game for years and now we expect nothing less than that this year.”

Malvern Daily Record - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - 7

SPONSORED BY

Malvernvs.GlenRose

Hamburgers, Chips & Cold Drinks (with help from Western Sizzlin)   

FRIDAY NIGHT ‐ SEPT 1st Serving begins 5:30 pm MHS Parking Lot  

  

 Benefits the Malvern Athletic Department 

$5 Donation

Hamburgers, Chips & Cold Drinks (with help from Western Sizzlin)   

FRIDAY NIGHT ‐ SEPT 1st Serving begins 5:30 pm MHS Parking Lot  

  

 Benefits the Malvern Athletic Department 

$5 Donation

Hamburgers, Chips & Cold Drinks (with help from Western Sizzlin)   

FRIDAY NIGHT ‐ SEPT 1st Serving begins 5:30 pm MHS Parking Lot  

  

 Benefits the Malvern Athletic Department 

$5 Donation

Hamburgers, Chips & Cold Drinks (with help from Western Sizzlin)   

FRIDAY NIGHT ‐ SEPT 1st Serving begins 5:30 pm MHS Parking Lot  

  

 Benefits the Malvern Athletic Department 

$5 Donation

Hamburgers, Chips & Cold Drinks (with help from Western Sizzlin)   

FRIDAY NIGHT ‐ SEPT 1st Serving begins 5:30 pm MHS Parking Lot  

  

 Benefits the Malvern Athletic Department 

$5 Donation

Malvern vs. Glen Rose

6th

Good Luck Glen Rose!!!

Stay positive, work hard,make it happen.

GOODLUCKGUYS!

MALVERN VS. GLEN ROSE

By Alexis Meeks

Sports Editor

Photo by Alexis Meeks

Malvern running back Kieth Caradine (11) takes the handoff from quarterback Cedric Simmons (3) during the Leop-ards scrimmage against White Hall on Thursday, August 22, 2019.

Photo by Alexis Meeks

Glen Rose kicker/punter Colby Steed practices his kicks before the Beavers scrim-mage against Hot Springs on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.

Glen Rose’s Matthew Clark and Malvern’s Dallas Lewis battle for the ball during the Malvern at Glen Rose game on August 31, 2018.

Photo courstey jaysphotodesign.com